Once in a dream
by dingdong4u
Summary: Steven finds someone in the kindergarten and tries to be friends.
1. Chapter 1

Darkness. It seemed to engulf Beach city like water. Flowing freely through the streets as if there was a flood.

It was nighttime in Beach city, the sun already long gone below the horizon. All of the residents of the city turned in for the night, preparing themselves for another day of work in the morning. All lights were off, save for a few lonely store signs and traffic lights that blinked and flickered like the flames on a candle. The only house that was lit was on a secluded side of the beach, tucked away inside the lone cliff that stood tall, as if overlooking the ocean.

A bright flash of light that lit up half of that side of the beach sent an array of stray animals scattering in all directions in search for cover. The gems stood on the warp pad, covered in a sickly blue-green substance that dripped off of them like water.

"Whew! Was that a mission!" Steven said, hopping off the warp pad while wiping his messy face on his shirt. "I wanna do that again!" He said turning towards the gems who had each walked off the warp pad and into the living room.

"Well," pearl started saying as she went to grab a towel from the kitchen "while that mission was a success, I would appreciate not being covered in this slime", she said as she gave amethyst an angry look and continued to wipe herself off with the towel.

Amethyst walked over to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, avoiding pearl's pointed look. Not surprisingly, amethyst was the one with the most amount of goop on herself.

Garnet, sitting on the couch, one leg crossed over the other and arms folded, had nothing on her, which surprised no one.

"Even though we got a little messy," Steven said as he hopped up the stairs to his bedroom "we had a lot of fun together, right?" Steven asked while looking at each of the gems individually.

This earned a grunt in response from amethyst, who looked over to the window and outside at the ocean, its waves lapping softly at the shore.

"Y'know Steven," amethyst said as she turned her head back over to where Steven was standing " I think it would've been more fun if pearl was the one who got the most messy, I'm pretty sure it would suit her better don'tcha think so too ste-man?"

Pearl, offended at this comment, retaliated

"Well I guess that's too bad for you because look who's the messiest of the four of us?" She added to this with "Besides, I could never be messier than you, I mean have you _seen_ your room? You are the epitome of messy, amethyst"

A small "ooooo" could be heard from Steven in his room, who had started to change into his pj's.

Amethyst smirked at pearl.

"Hah, aww thanks P. I never thought I could get such a compliment like that from anyone-" she glanced at Steven for a second then back at pearl "well maybe except for Steven, but that's Steven so basically you're the last person I can think of who would do that"

Pearls face changed into one of disgust. She was about to say something back at amethyst when Garnet stood up from the couch and placed her hand on pearls shoulder.

"That's enough. Both of you. It's late and Steven needs to sleep." She said sternly.

An audible yawn could be heard from Steven after she said this, as if more evidence that amethyst and pearl needed to stop bickering.

"Awh man, that was just about to get good." Amethyst stated, walking some-what slowly towards the temple door. "Night ste-van!" She said waving behind her as she walked into her room.

"Yes. Goodnight." Garnet said, starting to walk towards the temple door as pearl trailed along behind her.

"Night guys!" Steven called after them, while crawling into bed. He wondered where lion was, but remembered that he was probably off doing weird lion stuff so Steven shrugged it off.

Once comfortable, sleep came to Steven easily, for he was already exhausted from that days mission. He only hoped in the back of his mind that he didn't have nightmares about malachite or any other monster gems again.


	2. Mass confusion

Steven always liked sleeping, he liked how it could take him away from one world, and into the next with what seemed like no effort. He liked dreams, and how they could go from the most random mess of things ever, to a serious on-going plot that you never wanted to wake up from so you didn't miss a thing. Steven loved those kind of dreams, even if some of them never made sense, he always felt that they told at least _some_ kind of story, even if he couldn't ever figure out what it was. He especially liked ones that depicted him and the crystal gems, as what he thought was a "normal" family. It was like he had two different families! That thought always comforted him, for if the dream turned out bad, he would always wake up and the crystal gems would always be right there to greet him.

Of course, there are the nightmares too. Nightmares that depicted his friends and family getting hurt right in front of him and Steven not being able to save them. Malachite, rising from the ocean in a raging frenzy, destroying everything in her path. Lapis, chained to someone she hated, because she cared for Steven and didn't want him to get hurt. Peridot, escaping earth and telling homeworld about the crystal gems and homeworld coming and destroying all of the people that he loved, then destroying the earth too.

Oh man, he hated those, all of them they plagued his mind like a disease, never going away. Sometimes his nightmares would just be flashbacks of when something happened and one of the gems got hurt. Pearl, trying to teach him the importance of actual sword fighting, then getting stabbed in the chest while she wasn't looking. Amethyst, getting poofed so many times and regenerating but not finding the right form for herself because she desperately wanted garnet to approve of her. Garnet, trying to fight off an enemy with tech they knew nothing about, but getting unfused and poofed all the same. All he ever wanted to do was protect them, but he always had the nagging thought in the back of his mind, that all of those had been his fault. He knew they weren't though, well he did cause pearl to get distracted when teaching him actual sword techniques, but he knew that it was the holo pearl who actually stabbed her. He still thinks about that day sometimes, when he thought pearl had actually died.

That was the first time steven learned about gem regeneration, and he was relieved when he found out pearl was coming back. The wait was painful, each day dragging on for what seemed like forever. What also bugged Steven was the fact that he had almost died, too. He realized that he had also almost died _so many times_ on previous missions.

Steven pushed these thoughts away deep into the back of his mind, trying to focus on getting actual sleep. It felt like almost an hour before he fell into what felt like the soft embrace of sleep. Thankful, Steven let it take him to another world of adventure.

Stevens consciousness was plunged into a black abyss, and he felt like he was falling through space, never reaching a bottom. Soon the feeling of falling vanished, and was replaced with the sensation of floating. Steven twisted and tried to look at his surroundings, trying to take anything and everything in. Of course we would try to that if there _was_ something to look at or find, but there was nothing. Only darkness. A darkness that weighed down on him like ocean waves. He wasn't actually pulled down but he could _sense_ that feeling around him, as if the atmosphere was being sucked down around him, and trying to pull him along with it.

Steven tried to find flat footing, for he wanted to explore this place and find _something._ He tried to will himself down, and found that this worked, his sandaled feet found flat ground and he started to walk. Not in any particular direction, for he was just trying to find something, no _someone_. Any one at all. _Anyone._

"Garnet? Amethyst? Pearl?" Steven called cupping his hands around his mouth. His words seemed to echo, even though there was nothing for it to echo off of.

"Hellooo?" He called again, hoping for some sort of answer.

 _"Where am I,"_ Steven thought to himself as he continued forward silently. His sandals being the only thing making noise as he walked.

The longer he walked, the less enthusiastic he was getting of ever finding anything in this endless void. He started to lose hope almost completely when he thought he felt... Grass? Steven looked down, he couldn't see anything but he was pretty sure he could _feel_ grass around his feet and underneath his sandals. This sparked a light of hope within him, and he started to walk faster in the same direction.

" _I wonder what I'm gonna find"_ Steven thought anxiously to himself. He was excited though, for he was tired of walking through nothing for what felt like an eternity.

As he was walking, the grass felt like it was getting taller. Steven took this as sign that he was getting closer to his unknown destination and started to jog. This was a bit difficult to do for the grass around him had turned into what seemed like a field of corn, towering high above him. Steven pushed his way through this, unaware that the environment itself was changing around him.

When he finally emerged from the cornfield, he found himself at the entrance of the... Kindergarten?

" what..., " he muttered to himself. Taking in his surroundings, it was night outside and stars were strewn across the sky as if hastily scattered there in a hurry. He took the scene before him in a bit more before moving forward. Everything looked the same, but how did he get here? And where were the gems?

He wandered forward into the kindergarten looking for an answer or any type of clue to help him out. As he investigated, he noticed that everything was the same as when he and the gems were here before. Steven felt a chill run down his spine, this place was even more menacing than before.

 _"Must be because I'm here alone at night without a flashlight or anything at all."_ Steven thought matter-of-factly.

Steven tried checking out the part of the kindergarten where he and garnet found the entrance to peridots lab. He was trying to decide if he should investigate down there, but hesitated. " _What if something happens? What if there's another forced fusion down there?"_ Steven visibly shivered as he recalled the memory that still burned fresh in his mind.

 _Garnet, not being able to move or protect herself from this monster. Garnet starting to unfuse. Steven desperately trying to talk her out of it, not truly knowing what was wrong._

 _Ruby and Sapphire fighting about homeworld and the sick experiments they were doing with the fallen comrades of the crystal gems. Garnet telling Steven how she wished he hadn't seen that, and how what homeworld was doing was absolutely horrible. How it wasn't proper fusion, and how those gems weren't given the choice._

These memories continued to flood back through Steven's mind _,_ and when they stopped, he realized his eyes were shut tightly, and that his hands were clenched together into fists. When he opened his eyes again, everything looked blurry, but he felt a wetness to his cheeks and realized that he had started crying.

Hastily, he wiped his eyes and cheeks with the palm of his hand and decided he would go down there anyways.

" _Whatever it is, I can take it."_ Steven thought to himself, determination settling in his mind.

He then continued to slide down the ramp to peridots lab, trying to keep balance by putting his hand against the the sloped wall as he slid down. His feet settled on the ground with a solid _thud._

Nothing looked off at first but when he went to go investigate the platform where the cluster fusions were held, there was nothing there.

" _Where did they go?"_ He asked himself, as if some part of himself already knew. Steven turned to leave then but as soon as he turned around, he heard a laugh echo throughout the chamber.

 _"Wow you really are as dull as dirt aren't you?"_ A familiar voice sneered.

"Peridot?" Steven called out, looking around but not seeing anything at all.

" _I can't wait to finally get rid of you clods, get back to home world, and never have to worry about you breaking my stuff ever again."_ Peridot said, as if savoring the idea of destroying Steven and his friends.

"As if! It's four against one, peridot! You're clod if you think you can't beat all four of us! Besides-" Stevens tone grew softer. "why would you want to go back to homeworld? Have you even tried to enjoy earth at least a tiny bit? I think you could actually like it if you atleast tried."

There was silence for a few seconds, then a fit of laughter from peridot that sent chills down Stevens spine.

Steven heard what sounded like the rumbling of an earthquake, he looked around himself and saw cracks running up and down the walls.

" _I need to get out of here. Now."_ Steven thought quickly.

He started to run back to the entrance as fast as he could, peridots laughs still echoing off the walls.

When he got back to the slope, he found himself slipping each time he tried to climb back up. He fell backwards each time, with each failure sparked more fear in his heart.

 _" I could use my bubble but id end up trapped down here and no matter what I do I'm going to end up crushed."_ He thought to himself with despair. After a few more attempts and rocks started to fall around him. He gave up his fruitless attempts at trying to escape. He sat down in a fit of defeat, walls crumbling around him, a giant boulder that fell from the ceiling missed him by a mere few inches. He jumped at that and yelped when he placed his hand behind him for support and cutting it on a sharp edge of a rock.

It was now that Steven started to sob, not because he cut his hand, but because he was going to die down here, and the gems would never know where he was.

The walls started caving in completely, and Steven knew that this would be the end.

Until he felt something grasp the back of his shirt, and was lifted into the air and out of the collapsing cavern, right as it caved in on itself and left a large sinkhole in the ground.

Steven was dropped on the ground and expected to see one of the gems there when he turned around onto his back to see who his saviour was.

Peridot stood there looking down at Steven expectantly.

Shock. Was all he felt. Well, shock and confusion.

"Well? No thank you? Well good because I can't have you dead yet! I still want to have some fun with this." She turned around, an evil grin forming on her face.

"What?" Steven asked. "What are you talking about? Why did you save me?"

"Oh,You'll find out in a moment." Peridot said.

Fear leached into Stevens stomach. Something wasn't right about this.

That was when he heard it. He could _hear_ the sound of gems regenerating, yet he couldn't _see_ any of them. He looked around himself, confused. He looked back towards the pile of debris.

He wished he hadn't.

He could make out the forcibly fused gem a mile away, a strangled mass of colors that was huge in size. He guessed at _least_ twenty gems forced together into one horrible monster.

Peridot laughed.

" _Now we're gonna have some fun!"_ She yelled over the screams of agony from the cluster that could be heard throughout the entire kindergarten.

The monsters mass glitched and tried to take form, growing bigger and bigger as the gems inside so desperately tried to break free from each other. Steven shut his eyes he didn't want to see this... _Horrible thing_. Tears welled up in his eyes and sweat beaded from his forehead.

" _Nononononono please no."_ He thought to himself. " _This can't be happening_."

Steven could hear the monster shambling towards them, each step causing the ground to shake and crack under its weight.

Peridot continued to laugh

 _"With you gone, the gems will be useless! It will be easier take them out now!"_ She said, still laughing maniacally.

Steven could feel the giant mess of a monster about to crush him when...

Steven opened his eyes, sweating and breathing hard.

" _It was only a dream.."_ He reassured himself " _more like a nightmare."_ He mentally corrected himself.

Steven looked around at the house, empty. He then turned to the window and realized the sun was just now started to peek over the horizon. It was a stunning view, the soft orange light from the rising sun glittered over the ocean and gave his room an orange hue. This calmed steven down a bit.

" _At least it wasn't about malachite"_ he thought in an attempt to make himself feel better.

Steven sat in bed and decided to watch the rest of the sun rise over the horizon so that he had time to think about the dream he had just experienced.


	3. Lazy day

After about an hour of watching the sun slowly rise over the horizon, Steven decided he should change into his clothes.

While pulling his shirt over his head, he could hear the soft _swoosh_ of the temple door as it opened. It was amethyst who walked out, stretching and letting out a yawn as she made her way towards the living room.

"Good morning, amethyst!" Steven called cheerfully. Making his way down the stairs from his bedroom.

"Sup Steven." Amethyst responded, giving a small wave.

"Are you hungry? I can make us breakfast if you want." Steven stated as he walked towards the fridge.

"I'm always hungry, ste-man." Amethyst said as she jumped up and sat on the counter.

"Well, I mean, anything in particular that you want?" Steven said, staring at the contents of the fridge. " we have a lot of options to choose from!" Steven said, the last part in a sing-song voice.

"Hmm... Well, if it's my choice, then I want a donut." Amethyst replied simply.

Steven closed the fridge and turned back to amethyst. "Okay! I guess I could go for a donut too. I could even say good morning to Sadie and Lars!" Steven headed to the door, waving behind him at Amethyst. " I'll see you in a little bit! Bye!" Steven called running out onto the porch and down the stairs leading to the beach.

Once on the beach heading to the big donut, Stevens pace slowed from a run into that of a brisk walking pace. As he did this, his mind began to wander.

Steven thought about many things. His mind first shifting to the crystal gems and his mom. He always wished he could meet her in person, even though he knew such an act would be impossible. He wondered what she would say to him, how she would act. The crystal gems always said that he so much resembled her so, would she basically act like him? But more mature? All of the gems and his dad looked up to her as a leader, would that mean when Steven grew up he would ultimately end up exactly like her, but half human? Didn't she control an entire army of rebel gems? Doesn't that mean that she fought and killed homeworld gems in battle?

The thought made chills run down Stevens spine. He decided to drop the subject and think about something else.

Steven was almost to the big donut now, he could see its sign a while away from where he was.

While still making his way towards it, he thought about lapis. He felt bad for lapis, sacrificing herself for his safety. All because he set her free.

" _It's kind of funny,"_ Steven smiled a tiny bit. " _How lapis wanted to be free so badly but after all this, ended up in a waaayy worse situation now than she was before._ " His smile fell away when he thought about her, chained, just trying to keep Jasper chained down with the weight of the earth's ocean.

Steven had reached the front doors to the big donut. While pushing the door open, he smiled and waved at the two familiar faces behind the counter.

"Hi guys! How's it going?" Steven said cheerfully as he walked up to them.

Sadie had her head resting on her hand and gave a small smile to Steven. Lars had earbuds in and was silently jamming out to his music, having not even noticed Steven had entered at all.

"Hey Steven." Sadie said, lifting her head out of her palm. "What'll it be this time?"

"Hmm... Well I was more getting this for amethyst so...," Steven thought for a moment, hand on his chin, thinking of what amethyst would like. "I think I'm gonna get two frosted donuts with sprinkles please."

"Okay, just five dollars please." Sadie said as she made her way over to the glass donut display case and grabbed what Steven asked for, wrapping it up and placing it in a bag.

Steven placed the money on the counter and grabbed the bag from Sadie when she handed it to him. "Thanks Sadie!" Steven turned and made his way towards the door. "Tell Lars I said hi okay?" Steven exited and made his way back to the house.

"Will do" Sadie called back. She placed her head on the palm of her hand again and glanced over at Lars before sighing.

Steven whistled to himself and looked out over the ocean. The sun gleamed on the waves and was still trying to make its way into the clouds.

" _I think it might rain today."_ Steven thought to himself, looking at all of the clouds above him. They bore a dark, ominous look and Steven feared they would just swallow the sun completely. He could still see blue sky above him so he knew it would either happen later today or pass by them completely. Steven hoped for the latter.

As Steven walked back home with a newly acquired bag of donuts, he began to think about the dream he had the previous night. He knew it could never happen because how could peridot do any of that with only one foot? Steven didn't think peridot was even that evil as to even try doing anything like that with only one foot. Steven started to feel bad about that, but not much. He hoped that peridot would learn to love earth, and he wanted be friends with her if he ever got the chance. He wanted to show her all the great things on earth like food, TV, videogames, and he wanted her to have fun and learn more about how awesome the earth was.

Steven sighed. He knew she probably wouldn't want to do any of that, but Steven still wanted to try. He just hoped the gems would be okay with it and let him.

Steven walked up the steps to the house, but stopped when he heard talking. He listened for a bit, straining his ears while trying to make out what the gems were saying.

"-could happen any time!" Steven heard pearl saying.

" I know that, that's why we just need to be prepared." Garnet reassured her.

" How can we possibly prepare for something like that? We have no control over anything that she does, we live right next to an _ocean_ for Pete's sake! Any time she could just pop out of nowhere and beat us! She can control water remember?" Amethyst countered back.

" _Oh no,"_ Steven thought. _"They're talking about malachite."_ Steven gulped. " _I better go in there before I hear something I'm really not supposed to hear."_ Steven stood up and walked up the rest of the stairs. The conversation stopped as soon as he opened the door with a joyful " I'm back! Here are those donuts you wanted Amethyst. "

Steven tossed the bag to amethyst who, with a single "thanks, dude." Took out a donut and took a bite out of it. Steven looked at the gems, who were giving worried glances at each other.

"Uhh something wrong you guys?" Steven asked, filled with a mild concern.

"Actually Steven," pearl walked over to steven and placed a hand on his shoulder "we were going to go on a mission-"

"Ooh can I come?" Steven interrupted. He was always happy to go on missions with the gems.

Pearl coughed "well actually... I'm afraid you can't go, because we're going underwater."

"Aww man" Steven sighed, let down. "How long will you be gone?" He asked.

"A couple days, not long." Garnet said while adjusting her shades.

"Awwww" Stevens shoulders slumped.

"Hey guy, it's not so bad" amethyst said while shrugging her shoulders. "It's only a couple days, we'll be back before you know it." Amethyst said in a poor attempt of reassuring Steven.

Steven smiled shyly, and put a hand on the back of his neck "yeaa I guess so..."

"Alright, come on gems, let's warp." Garnet stated, walking briskly to the warp pad as the other two gems followed closely behind her.

Steven waved at them as they left, and watched the beam of light carry them to wherever their destination was.

 _Author's note: sorry about the weird chapter lengths, I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. Also sorry if this chapter seems pretty uneventful, I just felt that that was a good stopping point for now so don't worry, more chapters will come soon!_


	4. New plans

"Stupid, crummy planet." Peridot grumbled to herself.

"It's all those stupid crystal clods fault."

A wide expanse of Forest stretched along as far as peridot could see. She was covered in mud and plant life that didn't seem to want to come off as she hastily made her way through all the thick vegetation. She looked around to try to see where she was but she already knew she was hopelessly lost. Well hopelessly lost in a way that she had no idea where she should even go. She didn't want to run into those dumb gems again any time soon.

" Of course! Now thanks to those clods I'm lost!"

Peridot smacked away bugs that had the audacity to fly around her face.

"Euaagh I hate this planet!" Peridot yelled out into the forest. "I don't even know where I am anymore, and I have no place to go!" She mumbled angrily. This mission was _not_ worth all of the trouble she was going through right now. First they break her things, then they make her have to come _all the way from homeworld_ to this dumb planet so she could try to make them stop? All for some stupid cluster data that while getting was almost killed by those dumb clods anyways? Not to mention them crashing her ship because that little... _The Steven_ being resistant to the destabiliser. She didn't even know what he was; but it couldn't have been gem. But wait, he summoned a shield... So he was a gem? He was human though... How could he be half gem half human?

The thought confused and angered peridot at the same time.

"It's all _the Stevens_ fault!" Peridot kicked the plants around her, dirt and mud getting all over her legs. "He's the reason my ship crashed!"

"I'm tired of these stupid clods getting in my way!" She stopped, an idea popping into place inside her mind. Peridot grinned to herself and continued walking along. All she had to do was get rid of them, find Jasper and call homeworld to come get them! They were the only thing in her way, well after that she did have to find Jasper. Peridot had no idea where Jasper could be, and she could be anywhere!

" _This plan might be difficult to pull off, but I'm smarter than those clods-"_ her grin spread farther across her face " _and I know where I have to go and what I have to do"_

—

After hours of trudging through mud and checking maps she had on her holo-finger touch screen, peridot arrived at the place she was looking for.

The kindergarten.

Peridot had continued to work out all the flaws in her plan while making her way to the kindergarten, so she felt that it was fool-proof. Oh man, the sooner she could get this plan in action, the sooner she could go home. She made her way towards her lab, looking around her just in case the crystal losers were here to foil what she was doing. As if. Peridot opened a panel on her arm and called up the platform she would use to get down into her workspace. She watched as the glowing bright green platform rose up before her. When it locked into place in front of her, she stepped onto it and it began to make its descent back into the inner depths of the kindergarten. She looked around her. _Tch_. Such archaic technology. When the platform stopped at the entryway of the chamber, peridot noticed that some of the clusters had broken out. _Right on time._ She mused to herself. Peridot took notice of her surroundings, _so they tried to destroy some of them, huh? They didn't even get half of them!_

Some of the clusters lay in pieces throughout the entire room. Peridot walked forward from the platform and towards the broken energy source. Stopping in front of it, peridot gazed at it for a moment then started to rip out pieces of the energy crystal. Peridot threw the shards of the giant crystal behind her, having no use for them for now.

Peridot worked at this for about 45 minutes, not that it mattered to her anyways. After ripping all of the pieces of the crystal off, it had revealed that there was a secret room behind it. Peridot smirked. _Perfect_. She climbed inside, and walked forward. She had never actually been inside this room before, for it was a last resort weapon that homeworld had abandoned, for not being able to control it initially.

Peridot crossed her arms. _Well that was a completely different set of gems! Homeworld forgot about this one anyways! I'm sure I can at least control it enough so that I can point it and the gems, then run like hell and hope it does what I want it to do._ She wasn't sure about it though so she had to be extra careful about it.

Peridot walked up to a door in front of her that had a security scanner in the wall next to it. She looked around, making sure that this was the correct room ( _it had to be since it was the only door)_ and walked over to the security scanner. On the screen in faded green letters it said, "PLACE GEM IN FRONT OF SCANNER." Peridot sighed. This technology could not get any more ancient than it already was. She already knew that was a lie.

She made do with it since it was the only thing she could do and placed her gem in front of a small green circle above the screen. She waited about ten seconds until she saw "SCAN COMPLETE" on the screen. She heard about one-hundred clicks as the door was unlocked and slid open slowly, dust falling from its surface from the sudden movement.

Inside the door was a giant laboratory with a giant pillar in the center. Wait, she realized, that that wasn't just a pillar, it was outer shell of what held a cluster together! And it took up most of the rooms space!

Peridot laughed with a manic glee. Oh, with this she would never have to worry about those crystal clods again!

But then it hit her. How would she even get this to kill them? She obviously couldn't just move it over to them, so what, wait for them to come here? That idea is ludicrous! Who knows how long it could take for them to get here? Or if they ever come here again?

No, no she knew they would come back here at some point. They are trying to chase her down anyways so they'll _have_ to come here and look for her at some point! And when they do... BAM! They'll never know what hit them!

So she decided she would wait here for them to fall into her trap. She just wanted them dead and to get off this hell hole of a planet.

She didn't care how long it took.

—

 _Author's note: sorry about the wait on this chapter! Also the lengths of each chapter but I don't really know what to do about that. I'll try to update soon but I'm starting school again soon also so it might take a little longer for each chapter. Thank you for all the positive feedback though! See you next time!_


End file.
